Education Week contributing writer Bryan Toporek brings you K-12 sports coverage that reaches far beyond box scores. He has written about education for Education Week and Education Week Teacher, high school sports for the Falls Church News-Press in Virginia, and is currently a Quality Editor for Bleacher Report.

H.S. Girls' Basketball Coach Suspended Two Games After Winning 161-2

Pro tip to all girls' basketball coaches in California: Egregiously running up the score against an opponent could be detrimental to your job.

The Arroyo Valley High School's girls' basketball coach, Michael Anderson, recently learned that lesson the hard way, as he earned a two-game suspension after his team blasted Bloomington High School to the tune of 161-2 earlier this month, per The Press Enterprise.

Anderson and Bloomington head coach Dale Chung met before the game, with the former telling the latter that he planned on running his full offense for the first half, the paper reported.

"This was our last game before we started league, and we were going to come out playing hard," Anderson told the paper. "I wanted to let him know there was no harm intended, and that if he had any ideas or concerns just to let me know. We were going to play a half of basketball, at least. ... And he seemed fine with that."

According to the San Bernardino Sun, Anderson attempted to have the officials implement a running clock in the third quarter, but they didn't do so until the fourth. He also claimed to have told his team in the second half not to attempt a shot unless there were seven seconds or fewer remaining on the shot clock.

"I don't play any starters in the second half," he told the paper. "I didn't expect [Bloomington] to be that bad. I'm not trying to embarrass anybody. And I didn't expect my bench to play that well. I had one [bench] player make eight of nine 3s."

Those concessions were little consolation to Chung, who expressed his frustration following the game.

"People shouldn't feel sorry for my team," he told the Sun. "They should feel sorry for his team, which isn't learning the game the right way."

Anderson missed his team's two games this past Wednesday and Friday, with his 19-year-old son Nick taking over coaching duties in the interim. With the younger Anderson at the helm, Arroyo Valley beat Indian Springs High School 80-19 on Wednesday and knocking off San Gorgonio High School 78-27 on Friday.

The lopsided result against Bloomington drew national attention, with ESPN's Keith Olbermann naming the elder Anderson one of the "world's worst in sports" Friday:

Anderson returned to the court on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with Arroyo Valley beating San Bernardino High School 82-20, per Pete Marshall of the Sun.

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